Welcome to Romans, and we're at the fifth
chapter of this evening, and we're going right
through from verse 12 to the end of
the chapter.
Verse 12 to the end of verse 21.
We have ten very wonderful verses this evening.
Some of the scholars say that these are
the most difficult verses in the letter to
the Romans for exposition.
The well is deep, but the Holy Ghost
knows the I think that you could write
over these ten verses, these two words, comparison
and contrast.
I think that, generally speaking, those two words
would rightly cover this very wonderful portion.
You see, we have our Lord Jesus Christ,
the second man, and we have Adam, the
first man, compared in this portion.
There is a comparison between the first Adam
and the last Adam.
Great comparison.
There are many comparisons in this portion.
And then there are some wonderful contrasts.
The contrast of Adam's disobedience, one act, of
course, contrasted with Christ's obedience, many acts, of
course, for his life from eternity to eternity
was one of obedience.
It was in obedience that Jesus came.
It was in obedience to the word of
the God and the will of God that
he was born in Bethlehem, and so on.
And so we have many comparisons and many
contrasts in this very wonderful portion this evening.
You'll notice that I have put it out
in twos.
First of all, we shall look up the
two men contrasted, and we will need to
take time with this because these are representative
men.
You see, Adam was the representative of the
old creation.
The old creation was judged in Adam.
We had a representative head who let us
down.
And then the Lord Jesus is the representative
head of the new creation this evening.
And when he lets me down, I'll be
lost again.
Of course, the boys that talk about being
lost again know nothing at all about the
representative head.
They don't know the first thing about him.
But we'll get into the depths of this
this evening.
The contrast, the two men contrasted.
And then as we go down the chapter,
we will see that two acts are compared.
The offence of one.
That was Adam's transgression, of course.
And then the righteousness of the last Adam,
our Lord Jesus.
We shall look up the disobedience of one
and the obedience of the other.
And then when we look at the two
men contrasted and the two acts compared, we
shall find that the teaching of this wonderful
portion is that two results are confirmed.
One is quite clear, sin ensured, and death
by sin.
And nobody ever argues about that.
Everybody knows that sin has come to this
world, and nobody argues about death, because everybody
dies sooner or later.
And so that was the result of Adam's
transgression.
Sin ensured, death by sin.
But then, bless God, when Jesus came, grace
entered.
It entered because Jesus was coming.
And grace entered, and the gift by grace,
which is life.
Yes, grace and the gift by grace, which
is life.
The gift of God is eternal life.
And then when we get through the two
men contrasted and the two acts compared and
the two results confirmed, we will find that
there are two different insults here considered.
One sin by Adam brings condemnation to all
born.
Every born soul in this world, black or
white or red or yellow, is condemned already
in Adam.
And then we shall find many sins on
Christ bringing justification to all who are born
again.
Oh yes, you need to be born again.
And when you're born again, you're in the
new federal head.
You're found in Christ from that day forward.
When you were born the first time, you
were found in Adam.
And in Adam all die, but in Christ
all shall be made alive.
And then when we come to verse 21,
the last verse, we will find that there
are two kings competing.
You see, sin hath reigned, hasn't it, unto
death.
And blessed God, grace reigns this evening unto
life.
So there are two kings competing.
And verse 17 is a very wonderful one
because there we have two abundances combining.
You see, there is the much more they
which receive abundance of grace.
That's a very wonderful phrase, abundance of grace.
My grace itself is abundant.
And then when you talk about the abundance
of abundant grace, well, I wouldn't know how
to put that exactly.
It's really beyond measurement, the abundance of grace.
And the wording is this, which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift, the abundance
of the gift of righteousness.
And so we have two abundances combining.
A very wonderful portion.
But let me say this, if you've got
Romans in your mind, then I trust you
have, because that's really what I've been trying
to do for you.
You know this, that in the first and
second and third chapters, right down to the
end of verse 19 in the third chapter,
Paul was doing everything he could with his
mighty pen to make us absolutely sure that
sin had entered and that all had sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
He brought the whole world in guilty before
God.
That's how he started off Romans, generally speaking.
But when he came to the 20th verse
in the third chapter, he began to let
us see what the dispensation of grace would
bring him.
And he let us see that all who
trust the Lord Jesus are justified freely by
his grace.
And then he went on in the third
chapter, and in the fourth chapter, and in
a great part of the fifth chapter, to
expound the wonderful Protestant doctrine of justification by
faith.
And if you ever want to know exactly
what justification by faith is, you start out
Romans chapter 3, and you go right through
to chapter 5, and down to verse 5
at least.
And the whole doctrine of justification by faith,
and you remember chapter 4 concluded that we
conclude that man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the Lord at all.
We went through all this.
And then you remember last week, he began
to let us see how exceeding sinful sin
was.
He showed that we were without strength.
Yes, we were totally depraved.
There was a total depravity within us.
And then he showed while we were yet
to know, there was iniquity upon us.
And then he showed when we were yet
enemies, when animosity came from us.
It was in such a state, sin in
us, sin on us, sin from us, that
the grace of God came out to meet
us.
And now he's beginning to expound the foundation
that this grace falls upon the poor lost
sinner.
And he's about to take up a new
section in Romans, which will start next week.
You see, in chapter 6, let me just
water your lips for next week, for the
moment, you have two powers brought before you.
Verse 14 will do for the moment for
sin shall not have dominion over you.
For ye are not under law but under
grace.
So that we're going to have a look
at the power of sin and the power
of grace.
Two powers, you see, are brought before us.
When we come into chapter 7, you will
find that he changes the figure a little
bit, and two husbands are brought before us.
When he gets down, chapter 7, to verse
14, and from there on, two states are
brought before us.
There is the carnal state, you see, verse
14, for I am carnal.
And then there is the spiritual state.
Then when we come into chapter 8, there
are two laws.
The law of the spirit of life, and
the law of sin and death.
And we're just about to start the new
section, because until a man and woman saved
by grace really understand that inside them there
are two...
You'll never get anywhere in the Christian life.
You'll never be any good to God.
You can talk about this backroom stuff of
closing your eyes and waking up like the
archangel, but you'll find out by experience there's
something in here that's not just exactly right.
There's an old nature here.
And the man that would dare to stand
up and say that it's not there, I
would just contradict you.
No, you hypocrite, just contradict you.
Don't let us bluff ourselves, because until young
believers get a grasp of this, that there
is an old nature here that can do
anything under the sun but go to hell,
and until you grasp that there is a
new nature, and when it's gripped, mastered, ruled,
held by the Holy Ghost, you become more
and more like Jesus, and the beauty of
Jesus is seen in you.
And so we're about to start on a
wonderful section, and I wouldn't like to miss
any part of the section, because I'll be
going very easy through it.
I want you to get the hold of
that, and because it will benefit your spiritual
life for all the days that yet to
be.
You see, we may never pass through Romans
again.
We're going through it now, maybe never again
in the history of this class will we
go through Romans.
So do your best to come, not for
my sake, not for the sake of the
class, but for your spiritual benefit.
And we'll go through the verses very carefully
that you will get the tools that God
intended you to get.
Now we'll get back to our portion for
this evening, and we're starting looking at two
men contrasted, and we're starting at verse 12.
You see, it begins with the word, wherefore.
You do remember that he was talking about
sin in the past verses.
In verse 6 he said, we were yet
without strength.
He was thinking of the depravity that was
within us.
And then in verse 8 he said, we
were yet sinners.
He was thinking of the iniquity that was
upon us.
And then in verse 10 he said, when
we were enemies.
He was thinking of the animosity that came
from us.
Now he's about to let us know how
this thing came to be.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered, this
is how sin came.
He's just about to explain the whole thing.
So he says, wherefore.
Now he says, wherefore, as by one man.
There are no doubts at all about who
he's talking about there.
It's certain.
Because when we read down this wonderful portion,
we'll read it quickly until I get this
truth out.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, so death
passed upon all men, for about all of
sin.
For until the law, sin was in the
world, but sin is not imputed when there
is no law.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam.
So he was talking about Adam.
But we'll make that absolutely clear as we
get on.
You see, this one man Adam, he transgressed.
Actually the phrase in verse 14 is, Adam's
transgression, and not transgressions myself, Adam's transgression, by
this one act.
Now I want you to get hold of
this.
Wherefore, as by one man, now I want
you to get this, sin entered.
I'm not thinking about sins now.
No, I'm thinking about this awful thing that
came to be the foreign nature of every
child of Adam's race, because the representative head
failed.
But we'll take our time about that.
Sin entered.
Now I think that sometimes we make a
tremendous mistake when we think that sin just
entered into Adam.
Some of the scholars teach that it's quite
true that sin entered into Adam, and that
sin every child of Adam, but that's not
what the Bible says.
The Bible says that sin entered into the
garden.
Not on your right it doesn't.
Sin entered into the world.
Now we miss this.
We miss the magnitude of this.
I shall make bold to say that that
one transgression, that disobedient act of Adam, it
caused more havoc and brought more destruction than
the greatest atomic explosion is ever going to
bring.
I want you to get the hold of
that.
But I want you to get it like
this.
Oh, it's quite true that the moment that
he disobeyed God, willingly disobeyed God, for he
wasn't deceived at all, as we'll see in
a moment, the moment that by that act
of disobedience, I know that sin entered into
him and it would come to every one
of Adam's children right to the very last
moment of time.
Oh, but let me say this to you.
You know the flowers around them began to
die.
And God is not the author of death.
It affected the plant life on this world.
Oh, wait a minute, I'll get this over
to you.
You know the very moment that Adam sinned,
not only did sin enter into him, not
only did it affect the vegetable world, but
the animal world went wild.
And they were not wild before that, now
you get that.
Oh, not at all.
Let's go back to Genesis 2, we'll see.
Genesis chapter 2, verse 18,
And the Lord God said, It is not
good that the man should be alone.
I will make him and help me for
him.
And out of the ground the Lord God
formed every beast of the field and every
fowl of the air and brought them unto
Adam to see what he would call them.
And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, thus
was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all the cattle
and to the fowl of the air and
to every beast of the field.
You know they cut the sick one in
end.
And remember, Genesis is very careful in its
language.
They're not called wild beasts in Genesis, not
at all.
They're just beasts of the field, that's all.
And you don't find this wildness, so you
don't find them called wild beasts until after
Adam sinned.
I want you to get the hold of
this, that the representative head of the whole
old creation, the moment he fell, sin entered
Genesis, into the world.
Love became a fact.
Free.
Amen.
And not until the representative head of the
new creation is back in the world to
reign with everything under his feet, will you
see the animal, the lion lying down with
the lamb again.
And then the harvests will be so great
that the shore will overtake the reaper and
all that Adam lost will be regained.
And much more, bless God, through the head
of the new creation, the Lord Jesus.
I want you to get the hold of
this.
Loved by one man, sin entered.
Just like how that into his breast, or
into the garden, or even into humans, his
blood of the nuts, the whole creation was
tarnished and blasted and destroyed by this atomic
explosion of the antler of sin into the
world.
It's a horrible thing.
I don't think we'll ever measure it.
But let's get this clearly now.
We're still in verse 12.
Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered.
Now, I don't want you to think for
a moment that that was the origin of
sin.
I think we need to halt there again.
This is only the entry of sin.
The story of the origin of sin is
another one altogether.
John Lucifer, that's quite another department, and if
I go into that you won't be out
of the morning.
No, we'll have to bypass that, but I'm
pointing it out to you.
This is not the origin of sin, this
is the entry of sin.
This is only sin entering into the world,
that's all.
But the origin of sin took place somewhere
else.
We've been through that one day in the
class here when we looked at Lucifer.
But here we are having the entry of
sin into the world, and then we notice
this armed death by sin.
You know, that's the horrible bit of it.
You see, it did bring spiritual death, for
at that moment Adam, totally depraved, was separated
from God.
And of course, it did bring physical death.
And of course, if man won't listen to
God, it will bring eternal death.
Bring eternal death.
If you won't take the gift of God's
grace and get right, but with God's grace
in Christ, then you'll eternally die.
You'll eternally die.
So, it's a horrible thing.
Really horrible.
I don't think we need to butter that
anymore.
Let's get this tidied out.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin.
Now, this is the bit we want to
watch.
So, death passed upon all men.
Now, that's where the Christians have a bit
of an argument with God.
They say, well now, this is unfair, you
know.
You took Adam, and you made him, and
you put him in the garden, and you
judged him.
God can do with election.
Who are you to talk to God?
Even if I couldn't answer your argument, I
would shut you up.
This is God's creation.
There's nothing unfair about this, because God had
a plan.
If I can judge the world in one
man, then I can save them in one
man.
God had a plan, and there'll be another
representative of man.
And he'll not fail.
And he'll finish the work, and he'll satisfy
me even on the account of sin.
And I'll raise them from the dead the
living Savior, and every one that trusts him,
I'll give them the life eternal that my
grace provides.
Nothing unjust about that, is there?
I would rather have it in those times.
The boys that want to go and live
in their own world, and they'll go to
hell, the miserable creatures that they are.
No, thank God for the plan, that he
judged the world in one man.
Because he had this plan in his mind,
why before he ever promised a Savior to
Adam in Eden, he had already a Savior
provided in the Eden above.
The Lamb was chosen before the foundation of
the world, you know.
And so we're beginning to see the two
representative of men coming out of this.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15 for a
moment.
1 Corinthians 15, and just see how very
wonderful the Word of God is.
Verse 45, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45, and
so it is written, the first man, Adam.
There's a lovely tickly bit in there, the
first man.
Sometimes they ask me, is there a man
on the moon?
Of course there's no man on the moon.
Adam was the first man.
Put the Bible to him, I'll stick to
it, and nobody will ever prove me wrong,
you'll find out.
And no child of Adam's race that I
know about or have heard about ever left
this planet to go to the moon, so
there's no man on the moon.
They may put one on before very long,
I'm not saying they'll not do it, but
it will be the first clone they'll have
there.
No, this book's first man.
I want you to watch this very carefully.
The first man, Adam, was made a living
soul, we read verse 45.
Now watch this, the last Adam.
Isn't that really wonderful?
You can see the contrast between the two
heads now.
You know, there were a lot of souls
in between, weren't there?
They're not counted.
It's just the first and last we're counting.
Two representative heads we're counting.
I think you'll see it clear when we
go to the next verse.
Look at verse 47.
The first man is of the earth.
Earth, eh?
Now watch this, the second man.
How can you make the Lord Jesus the
second man?
I'm sure there were millions of men in
between.
Ah, but God's only looking at two representative
heads.
He just sees the first man and the
whole creation was in him.
And he sees the second man.
And there are no doubts about who they
are now.
The first man, Adam, that's quite clear, isn't
it?
And the second man is the Lord.
The doubts about who he is either.
Modernists don't know that, maybe.
They don't know he came from heaven.
They don't know he was the Lord before
he came.
They don't know that.
They try to teach that Mary had an
affair with a German soldier.
God pity their miserable intelligence.
When they're roosting in hell, they'll learn the
truth.
It's a horrible thing to say that Jesus
Christ was a bastard, you know.
When you say that Mary had an affair
with a German soldier and a child was
produced, you're just saying that.
Horrible thing.
They're not letting anybody off of those sort
of things.
And God won't let them off either.
Ah, this is the first man and the
second man.
So that we have two representative heads.
And the first man felt miserably, didn't he?
And he excluded the whole thing and we
were all lost in Adam.
Go over to verse 22 of this chapter.
1 Corinthians 15 verse 22.
Watch this.
For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive.
You know, there are some fellows and they
put the emphasis on the word all here.
They say all die in Adam.
All will live in Christ and they preach
universal salvation.
Everybody that dies, everybody will live.
It's nonsense.
The emphasis is on the end.
Watch it.
As in Adam.
How did you get into Adam?
How were you found in Adam?
You were born in Adam.
Well in Christ, how were you found in
Christ?
You need to be born again.
And all who are born again get life.
And all who are only born once will
die eternally.
But you're saying two representative heads.
Go on over from 1 Corinthians to 2
Corinthians for a moment.
And we're at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and
verse 17.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature.
Or the better ending is, he is a
new creation.
You see where I'm standing this evening.
You see the moment that I ventured my
all and placed the tongue in blood, the
Holy Spirit entered and I was born of
God.
And from that moment for all eternity I
was found in Christ, the new head of
the new creation.
And I'm telling you that when he's healed,
I'll be lost.
I was lost in Adam, wasn't I?
Well I've got a new reference.
Well when he's healed, I'll be lost.
Oh praise God in heaven's name.
I'm saved in Christ.
It's a pity some of you didn't know
that.
Because it would warm you up a wee
bit.
Why you don't have a head of your
new creation, maybe?
Maybe you don't have a representative head, will
I?
If I were debating lost again with theologians,
it's on the headship of Christ that I
would debate it.
And I could tie them up in the
knot every time, without any trouble.
So you're seeing two men contrasted, aren't you?
All right, let's go a little bit further.
We'll go back to Romans.
We're at chapter 5.
And we've sort of got through verse 12.
We're not getting on very well tonight, are
we?
Nevertheless, I want you to try to get
these two X's compared.
You can read the whole chapter at your
leisure.
Verse 14 talks about Adam's transgression.
Then verse 17 talks about by one man's
offense.
Verse 18 is a very wonderful one.
By the offense of one judgment came upon
all.
Then verse 19 is absolutely clear.
For us, by one man's disobedience.
You know, friends, Adam disobeyed God.
Let's have a look at a wee verse
that's in 1 Timothy, just for a moment.
I think it's wise to have a look
at this one.
1 Timothy, and we're at the second chapter.
1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 13.
For Adam was first formed, then he's.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived was in the transgression.
You know, the devil didn't come round to
Adam.
Don't you make any mistakes about this.
The devil deceived the woman.
And your Bible says Adam was not deceived.
Now, he walked into the scene with his
eyes open.
Really did.
And he transgressed with his eyes open.
And he offended God with his eyes open.
And he willfully disobeyed God.
Yes.
And he exploded the whole old creation.
Why, I tell you, it wasn't just a
slip of tissue now.
He didn't trip or something.
Not at all.
Now, we're comparing that with the obedience of
one.
We're back at Romans 5 again.
Sorry for floating you about, but I think
it's wise to see all these things.
We're back at Romans, and you'll notice that
it's by Adam's transgression or by the one
man's offense or by that act of disobedience.
But when we come to compare these two
acts, you'll find that verse 19 says, For
as by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous.
Now, the obedience of one wasn't just one
single act, you know.
I know that some people preach it like
that.
I don't think that that's true at all.
Let's have a look at the verse in
Romans for a moment.
In Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10.
A very wonderful one.
Hebrews 10 and verse 5, speaking of our
Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world, Wherefore
when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a
body hast thou prepared me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou
hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of
me, to do thy will.
There's another translation of that that's far nicer.
I come to do everything that's written in
the book concerning me, for it is thy
will.
You see, it was the Father who sent
the Son.
We can never reach up to that moment
in eternity when the Father said, Go, my
son, go for us.
And he obeyed.
When the fullness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son.
He obeyed.
At the moment he came to earth, he
says, I come to do everything that's written
in the book concerning me, for it's thy
will.
And it was God's will that he should
be born in a stable.
And he obeyed.
And it was God's will that he should
be known as an angel.
And he obeyed.
It was God's will that Judas would walk
with him for three and a half years
just to prove that he could put up
with evil.
He knew all about him.
He never was bluffed with this fellow.
He knew from the beginning that he would
betray him, but it was God's will.
And he obeyed.
And every step through life was paid for
him by the word of God.
And he obeyed, and from there he became
obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.
And by one man's obedience there came a
Savior who lived spotless, who died an atoning
death, who shed redeeming blood, who met every
requirement of God, and who rose from the
dead, and whosoever believeth not and dies
like that will be damned.
He that believeth shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned.
Oh, what a wonderful Savior.
Man, I just feel like saying this all
the time.
What a Savior.
Don't need to go into that anymore, do
we?
It's just, it's just the elks compared.
Now, let's get down to this, because this
is very wonderful.
Let's see these results confirmed by this passage.
It says, verse 15, But not as the
offence, so also is the free gift.
For if through the offence of one many
the dead, much more the grace of God,
and the gift by grace, and the gift
by grace, which is by one man Jesus
Christ hath abounded unto men.
You see, we were just learning a moment
ago that by one man sin entered.
Oh, we can see sin entering.
What a terrible, horrible affair it is.
And death by sin.
But you know, at the same psychological second,
because God counts the things which are not
of you know, grace entered.
Grace entered because Jesus was coming.
Psychological second, because God counts the things which
are not of you know, grace entered.
Grace entered because Jesus was coming.
And the gift by grace, and the gift.
You don't need any popish priest to get
you this, you know.
You don't need candles for this.
This is a gift.
You don't need beads for this.
The holy water.
Don't rule that sort of popish nonsense out.
This is the gift that the grace of
God offers you.
And the gift is eternal life.
The gift of God is eternal life.
And you'll get it.
No trouble with that at all.
You don't need to be a theologian to
get the hold of that.
That's just ABC stuff.
But it's really thrilling.
It's really thrilling.
But I want you to get the hold
of this.
Because this is really tremendous to me.
We're in verse 18, just to follow it
through.
Therefore, as by the offense of one, a
judgment came upon all men.
The condemnation.
God judged all men in Adam when he
offended.
I'd like you to get this, because this
is tremendous.
You see, I know that the very thought
of foolishness is saying you can become a
sinner by thought.
Because you know that, don't you?
And I know that you can be judged
by your words.
By your words you could be justified, and
by your words you could be condemned, and
you could become a sinner by thought.
But I don't mean to tell you that
you can become a sinner by act, by
deed, by practice.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not, thou shalt not.
And you can become a sinner by practice.
But you know, often from this platform I
have thought that you are a sinner by
nature.
Even if you never did anything.
This book teaches that by nature we are
children of God.
When a little tiny baby is born into
this world, it is a sinner.
If it never sneezes, it's a sinner.
The only way to get this way to
go, you were a sinner before you were
born at all.
You were condemned.
I wouldn't need to take a whole night
to prove that you were a sinner, you
know.
Not a bit of me.
So that the whole world stands condemned, all
right.
We were doomed in Adam.
We're doomed by nature.
The law has shut every mouth, and the
whole world's guilty.
Sure if the law said to this crowd
here, thou shalt not covet, I'd like to
see the boy that would stand up and
say, I never coveted anything.
You wouldn't have the guts to do it,
sure you wouldn't.
We'd take you away to the lunatic asylum
if you did.
Friends, we're condemned in Adam, that's the bit.
Now wait a minute, because there's a tremendous
thing here.
Tremendous thing.
Now watch it over again.
Verse 18.
Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation.
How many of them?
All men.
They're all condemned.
Blacks and whites and reds and yellows.
Roman, Catholic and Protestant.
All condemned, yes, but all men.
The whole world, the whole creation fell.
Now watch.
Let's read it carefully.
Verse 18.
Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, the
Lord Jesus, the free gift came upon all
men.
Where's the boys that's going to limit it?
I'd like to see you limited at home
with boys just on the platform now, because
I would fix you.
Hold as I clouded you, and you've got
a wee Calvinistic utter, my extraordinary special Calvinistic
ideal, that there was only two.
And it's certainly not taught in this verse.
All right, have another look at it.
Tell me you're blinking there, I can see
that.
All right, we'll have another look at it.
Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment
came upon all men.
How many of them?
Even so, by the righteousness of one, the
free gift came upon all men.
First you would be so stupid you would
make one part mean all men, but the
next part wouldn't mean all men.
Well if God hardly wanted to say some
man, he could easily have said it, you
know.
Said there's no bother about it.
But he didn't do any such thing, he
just said it over again.
It doesn't have your theology, so you'll have
to change it.
I want to tell you that because Christ
died, because the blood was shed, because the
throne is satisfied, justification is offered to all
men as a free gift in Christ's true
grace.
It's better than nothing you've tried.
Isn't it?
Wonderful, isn't it?
Oh, I tell you, that's the result.
Of course, I don't need to go over
this too much to see the differences.
You'll find it's one offence, it's Adam's transgression,
it was that act of disobedience, and it
brought condemnation to all born the first time.
But you'll notice this, verse 16 says, and
not as it was by one, that's it,
not just the same, so is the gift.
For the judgment was by one to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offences
unto justification.
You know, every believer in this meeting tonight
can say, he was delivered for our offences.
Every one of them, every one of them.
My, all my sins were laid on Christ.
Adam just made one act of disobedience and
condemned the whole time.
But for every one that will rest on
the Christ shall die the Lord again.
Every offence, every sin, he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our inequities,
and the whole complete got unsettled for time
and for eternity was settled by the man
on the center cross and for all eternity.
Tremendous, tremendous.
Ah yes, that's the differences.
And so tonight in this poor old world
of ours, two kings are competing, nobody argues
about sin reigning.
My, it rains unto death.
We've seen it raining in many places.
And we went to the first chapter of
Romans, didn't we?
And we saw man and woman going down
into the very depths of utter corruption.
Until I astounded this poor class.
One doesn't want to repeat that every week,
you know.
But you know what Romans 1 teaches?
And sin really reigned.
Woman left their natural use and went to
beast, and man left woman and went to
man, putting them in jail and banger for
it now.
And every town in the north of Ireland's
riddled with it.
Riddled.
Don't come to argue with me about sin
reigning.
My, when you look at some of the
poor little children brought into the world, blinded.
Ah yes, because of sin, remember.
Not at all.
Brought in because of sin.
My, you could picture many, many things tonight,
but it's too sore, too sore.
Sin reigns.
And it rains unto death.
But praise God, praise God this verse doesn't
end there.
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Oh, grace is flowing like a river, supplied,
telephores as fresh as ever from the Savior's
wounded side.
And if you're on the feet saved tonight,
it's all in your rejoicing in it.
You were saved by God's sovereign grace.
Saved by God's sovereign grace.
One should bow their head when they talk
like this.
It was grace that wrote my name on
life's eternal book.
It was grace that gave me to the
Lamb who all my sorrows took.
Saved by grace alone.
This is all my plea.
I didn't do anything, I only sinned.
But the grace abounded more.
Grace lifted me, and grace rescued me, and
by the grace of God, I am what
I am this evening.
Oh, you can see that.
But I want you to get the hold
of this as we stop.
You know, I think this is very wonderful,
that at verse 17 you see we've got
to go back and forwards in this wonderful
passage this evening to try to get the
truth out.
For if by one man's offence death reigned
by one, much more they which receive abundance
of grace and the gift of righteousness, you
know, the abundance of the grace and the
abundance of the gift, my, it has brought,
it has brought life eternal to everyone who
puts their trust in Jesus.
It doesn't make a matter who you are.
You know, I think, I think that Will
Houghton was one of the godliest men I've
ever seen.
I don't think that you could be in
Will Houghton's presence and ever think even about
anything like it.
There was something about this fellow.
He walked, he really lived.
I got to know this man at one
of the missions.
If he and I became great friends, he
knew where I came from all right, but
I didn't know where he came from until
he told me.
Before he was saved, Will Houghton was the
greatest boozer I suppose America has ever had.
He did this.
His little boy died suddenly one evening just
at 11 years of age, and as he
stood by the little coffin all alone, the
lad was dressed as Americans might dress a
little boy for Belial, with beautiful shoes with
buckles, lovely soap socks, and he opened the
coffin and took the shoes off the lad,
and took the socks off, and went down
and plumbed them for booze.
I don't think there's one in the crowd
who would join.
Seems to be a horrible thing.
You could hardly believe it couldn't.
Lying in an old dump, stupid drunk, lying
in his own spewings, the grace of God
came and saved him.
And if ever grace made a sinner, I'm
out of God.
He was Will Houghton, and where sin abounds,
grace did much more abound.
Can I say this without offending anybody?
There are some old hardened sinners in this
place, and you've been preached to for years,
and sometimes in my own soul I think
they're damned, and then God says, my grace
goes still further, and I know where that
grace of God finds you.
Let us
have a moment together before the Lord.
Oh God our Father, we come to praise
thee for thy wisdom.
We thank thee for letting Adam be the
representative head, and we care not whoever else
you may have chosen, we would all have
failed.
But oh God we bless thee for the
wisdom that had the plan to send another
Adam to the fight, and we bless thee
that the fight needs no second fight, for
it left no second foe.
We bless thee that the last Adam finish
the work, spoil principalities and power.
And oh God we're so glad that thy
grace can reach out to these sinners who
have rejected thee too often, and there's salvation
for them tonight in Christ.
Take our thanks for thy work.
Bless us for Christ's sake.
Amen.